For instance, I discern only a single scrap in the Certain Conceits and Jests, 1614:—
“There was a certain fool that always, when the sun shone, would weep, and when the rain rained would laugh; and his reason was, that sunshine followed rain, but rain sunshine.”
So, again, in the Conceits, Clinches, Flashes, and Whimzies, of 1639, where the arrangement is similarly in paragraphs, but where at the same time the contents answer better to the title than to the Ana, there are 287 heads, and to discover half a dozen passable illustrations is a task of difficulty. These bijoux, which the author, a Lancashire man, carefully garnered up as they struck his own fancy, or fell from the society which he kept, are after the following style:—
“An antiquary,” says one, “loves everything (as Dutchmen do cheese) for being mouldy and worm-eaten.”
“A simple fellow in gay clothes is like a cinnamon-tree; the bark is of more worth than the body.”
“Another said, a woman was like a piece of old grogram, always fretting.”
A few more might be added, not for their wit, but for their casual elucidation of some obsolete word or custom; but we must not deny the writer the credit of introducing the Pun. Better have been made since; but, after all, we are here in the days of Charles I. No. 145 inquires why few women loved to eat eggs? Answer: Because they cannot endure to bear the yoke. A far from brilliant effort spoiled in the wording!
“Why are tailors like woodcocks? A. Because they live by their long bills.”
Perchance, the best in this indifferent medley is No. 177, which depends on the different meanings of liber and libra:—
“A rich bookseller wished himself a scholar, and one said to him: ‘You are one already, being doctus in libris.’ ‘Nay,’ replied the other, ‘I am but dives in libris.’”